For years outdoor decking has been a desirable feature for use either freestanding or joined to a housing structure such as a conventional dwelling of brick, lumber, siding, or other exterior surface material, or with mobile homes and the like. Various lumber yards and home supply stores have made available pre-cut flooring material, stair treads, and banisters for assembly on site by a carpenter or other craftsman, however, these pre-cut boards solved only a part of the problem of erecting a deck and left a great deal of the detail work to be done on site by a skilled carpenter.
Even with the pre-cut pieces available heretofore, substantial cutting and fitting was necessary to make a finished deck and as a result of field versus shop cuts, the pieces were often not of uniform size and squareness required to produce a first-class finished deck when done by workman of less than consummate skill and carefulness.
An object of the present invention is to provide a modular deck having all components pre-cut and some pre-assembled and also having the necessary holes for lag bolts or screws pre-drilled to facilitate correct assembly of the various components with the prefabricated floor section without the critical measuring and placement of the connecting holes left to the assembler. This way, a person with less than craftsman skills can produce a deck which is symmetrical and which, when finished, has the appearance of being constructed by professionals. A further object of this invention is to provide a modular deck with floor sections which may be joined together to provide a deck of any number of several sizes. It is also an object of this invention to provide a connecting member for joining adjacent interior corners of the various floor sections to quickly and easily secure them together in proper alignment and to provide a means for securing a vertical support member beneath the interior corners of the deck.